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Corporate Financier’s Notes by Aivars Jurcans
Done! And Done
Cevian Capital, an activist investor, has pushed its stake in Aviva, an insurer, to 5.02%, up from 4.95% as reported previously.
Source: Reuters
Santander, a Spanish lender, has agreed to buy the minority stake in its US consumer unit it does not already own for around USD 2.5 billion. The deal values the entire Santander Consumer US unit at USD 12.7 billion.
Source: Reuters
Goldman Sachs Asset Management agreed to buy NN Investment Partners, the investment management arm of NN Group (a Dutch insurer), for about EUR 1.6 billion. NN Investment Partners has USD 355 billion of assets under management, of which USD 190 billion are managed on behalf of its insurance parent company.
Source: FT, WSJ
Deals On The Table
CME Group is said to have approached Cboe Global Markets, a Chicago exchange company and owner of the Vix volatility indices, about an all-share deal that values Cboe at nearly USD 16 billion.
Source: FT
Metrics To Watch
At the end of 2020, the average account size at Robinhood was just over USD 5,000, according to the research firm BrokerChooser. At Charles Schwab the figure is USD 225,850. Robinhood has an equity valuation of USD 38 billion, or 165x times forward earnings. Schwab trades on a multiple of just 22x times.
Source: FT
Up-and-Comers
Ramp, a fintech startup that offers corporate cards and software for managing employee expenses, says that it has been valued at USD 3.9 billion after the latest funding round.
Source: Reuters
Exciting Numbers
Bitcoin mining accounts for 0.4% of the world’s energy consumption, using more electricity annually than Finland or Belgium, according to the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption index.
Source: FT
A Thought Worth Noting
“My view is that we are in a transitory high inflation period, but I don’t rule out high inflation for a bit longer than we thought.”
Jorge Garayo, global head of inflation strategy, Societe Generale
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Aivars Jurcans has more than 20 years of corporate finance and investment banking experience. His services are currently available through MURINUS ADVISERS.
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